Alright sinners, grab your incense, cloak yourself in shadows, and prepare for an Orthodox black metal sermon from the crypt.
Because BATUSHKA (БАТЮШКА if you’re feeling Cyrillic) aren’t just here to play heavy — they’re here to deliver liturgy straight from the apocalypse. ☦️🔥📿

Imagine a monastery getting possessed by Behemoth, with the choir replaced by robed riff lords and the altar piled with skulls.
That’s Batushka: part ritual, part rebellion, all absolutely blasphemous.

☦️ WHO (OR WHAT) IS BATUSHKA?

Genre: Orthodox Black Metal / Ritual Doom / Liturgical Mayhem
From: Poland 🇵🇱
Formed: 2015 (…and then promptly imploded into a cursed soap opera)
Known For:

  • Mixing Eastern Orthodox liturgy with furious black metal
  • Gregorian-style chants layered over bone-crushing tremolo riffs
  • Worshipping at the altar of atmosphere AND annihilation
  • A band split so dramatic even Satan went “damn lads, calm down”

Let’s get this out the way:
Yes, there are TWO Batushkas now.
Yes, it’s messy.
No, you don’t have to pick sides — just follow the riffs.

🧨 THE SPLIT – BLACK METAL’S MESSIEST DIVORCE

Originally founded by:

  • Krzysztof “Derph” Drabikowski – Guitarist & mastermind
  • Bartłomiej “Bart” Krysiuk – Vocalist & frontman

After their debut Litourgiya blew up like a censer full of TNT, the band imploded in holy hellfire.
Lawsuits flew. Statements were issued.
Now there are TWO Batushkas:

  • Drabikowski’s Batushka – DIY, grim, raw, unfiltered evil
  • Krysiuk’s Batushka – Signed, polished, touring like a liturgical rock opera

Result?
Fans are divided.
The music? Still slaps harder than an icon thrown from the pulpit.

💿 DISCOGRAPHY – BOTH CHURCHES SHALL BE JUDGED

🔥 Litourgiya (2015 – OG Batushka)

🎧 Yekteniya 1–8
Vibe: ***Black metal perfection.
Choral chants, churning riffs, holy hell this is good.
Considered a modern masterpiece.
Everyone agrees: THIS is the blueprint.

🖤 Panihida (2019 – Drabikowski’s Batushka)

🎧 Piesn 1–8
Vibe: Rawer, darker, deeper.
Less production, more atmosphere.
A DIY exorcism recorded in a candlelit bunker.
Still brutal AND beautiful.

🕯️ Hospodi (2019 – Krysiuk’s Batushka)

🎧 Wozglas, Polunosznica, Utrenia
Vibe: Bigger, glossier, theatrical.
More groove and polish than Panihida, but still delivers the darkness.
More “arena of fire,” less “graveyard in the woods.”

🗡️ Raskol (2021 – Krysiuk’s)

🎧 Irmos, Rozhdestvo, Powieczerje
Vibe: Riffs return, cleaner but more furious.
Name literally means “schism” – cheeky much?
Leans into the epic, stompier vibe of late Behemoth.

🔥 Царю Небесный / Carju Niebiesnyj (2023 – Drabikowski’s)

🎧 Each track a grim gospel
Vibe: Ritualistic, cold, and absolutely punishing.
***Drabikowski proving he doesn’t need a label — just a torch and a chalice.

🎧 RIFF REPORT’S ESSENTIAL PSALMS OF DESTRUCTION

☦️ Yekteniya 1 – The bell tolls. The end begins.
🔥 Polunosznica – Dark, theatrical, stomping toward judgment.
🕯️ Piesn 3 – Cavernous. Crying. Crushing.
💀 Rozhdestvo – Blackened blasphemy with style.
🔮 Carju Niebiesnyj – As close as you’ll get to being buried alive… with groove.

🧠 WHY BATUSHKA MATTER

Because they:

  • Took the tired tropes of black metal and blessed them with sacred theatre
  • ***Created one of the most unique sounds in extreme metal this century
  • ***Made Orthodox chants terrifying again (or possibly for the first time)
  • ***Proved that you can split a band in half and STILL have two that slap
  • Wear robes better than half of Eurovision

They blur the line between worship and war, and whether you’re on Team Drabikowski or Team Krysiuk —
you’re still getting your face melted off in the pews.

🎤 LIVE SHOWS – A FUNERAL MASS WITH RIFFS

A Batushka gig is:

  • ☠️ Smoke. Candles. Fire. Icons. Intensity.
  • 🕯️ ***Less “gig” and more “funeral for the light.”
  • 🎭 A full-blown blackened ritual – with stage robes, swinging censers, and ominous glares
  • 🔊 Sound like a crypt collapsing on a cathedral

Whether it’s the raw violence of Drabikowski or the arena-blasted glory of Krysiuk — you’ll walk out changed.

🕯️ FINAL VERDICT FROM THE RIFF REPORT:

***Batushka may be a band split in two — but both halves are lethal.
One burns churches.
One builds cathedrals of sound.
Both are blasphemous as hell.

Want Orthodox chants over blast beats?
Want your black metal steeped in ritual, wrath, and robed mystery?
Want to feel like you just pissed off every saint in the sky?

Then light the incense, raise the chalice, and enter the litourgiya.

🖤 The Riff Report kneels, snarls, and chants:
BATUSHKA – TWO NAMES.
ONE DARK PURPOSE.
BLACK METAL’S HOLY WAR. ☦️🔥💀